US airlines are notorious for offering all kinds of ways to upgrade to first or business class, ranging from being able to redeem miles, to being able to use systemwide upgrades, to receiving complimentary upgrades, to having endless opportunities to buy-up to a premium cabin with cash.
JetBlue Mint is one of the best premium products in the United States. Interestingly, unlike virtually every other US airline, JetBlue makes it hard to get a seat in Mint without outright paying. In this post I wanted to take a closer look at the limited number of ways you can upgrade to JetBlue Mint.
In this post:
What is JetBlue Mint?
For context, JetBlue Mint is the name of JetBlue’s premium cabin. While JetBlue offers a pleasant economy experience, the airline introduced its version of a business class product roughly a decade ago, and it’s phenomenal.
JetBlue Mint is only available on select Airbus A321 aircraft (including some A321ceos, some A321neos, and all A321LRs). Mint is offered in a limited number of premium markets, including all transatlantic flights, as well as select transcontinental flights, and flights to the Caribbean.
What makes JetBlue Mint different? For one, JetBlue Mint seats are fully flat beds. The exact configuration varies depending on the aircraft. The initial JetBlue Mint configuration has a staggered layout where seats in every other row have a door. Meanwhile the new JetBlue Mint configuration features direct aisle access and doors from every seat.
On top of that, JetBlue’s Mint soft product is exceptional as well. The crews are consistently friendly, and the food and drinks are top notch. It’s such an innovative experience compared to what you’ll otherwise find in the United States.
The best ways to upgrade to JetBlue Mint
JetBlue tries to maintain the integrity of its Mint cabin in terms of pricing and exclusivity, much more so than other US airlines. There are no ways to use points to upgrade to JetBlue Mint, and the opportunities to upgrade to Mint are limited.
So in this post I wanted to take a look at the best ways to snag an upgrade to JetBlue Mint, short of outright paying cash for a ticket.
You can use JetBlue Mosaic Mint upgrade certificates
Mosaic is the elite status in the JetBlue TrueBlue loyalty program. Mosaic status is earned based on how many “tiles” you rack up, and then there are four tiers of Mosaic status. The two highest tiers come with some Mint upgrade certificates:
- JetBlue Mosaic members who rack up 150 tiles annually receive four Mint upgrade certificates
- JetBlue Mosaic members who rack up to 250 tiles annually receive an additional two Mint upgrade certificates
The good news is that JetBlue Mint upgrade certificates can be used to confirm an upgrade at the time of booking. The catch is that a flight requires anywhere from one to four upgrade certificates, and there’s no consistency. The number of upgrade certificates required varies by route, day of week, time of day, anticipated load, etc. You can generally expect that most routes will require at least two upgrade certificates.
For context on JetBlue’s tiles system for earning status, you earn one tile for every $100 spent on JetBlue, and one tile for every $1,000 spent on a JetBlue credit card. So you’d need to spend a minimum of $15,000 on JetBlue, or $150,000 on a JetBlue co-branded credit card, to start earning these perks.
You can buy a JetBlue Mint upgrade at the gate
If you don’t have one of the highest tiers of Mosaic status, you only have one other option for upgrading to JetBlue Mint. This is to pay cash for an upgrade. Unlike other airlines, JetBlue won’t sell you Mint upgrades in advance, or even at check-in (if you are quoted an upgrade cost, that’s simply the fare difference for Mint).
Instead, the airline only sells Mint upgrades at the departure gate for your flight, typically within an hour or so of departure. How much are Mint upgrades? While it depends, the data points that I’ve seen suggest that the costs are generally as follows:
- A Mint upgrade on a transatlantic flight often costs $699
- A Mint upgrade on other flights often costs $449-599
I’d certainly welcome more data points as to Mint upgrade costs, as I think many people would find that to be useful. If you upgrade to Mint, you should get all the standard Mint services, though you won’t earn bonus points, or have your fare class changed.
You can redeem TrueBlue points to book JetBlue Mint
While not an upgrade, it is worth noting that you can redeem points for travel in JetBlue Mint. JetBlue TrueBlue is a revenue based frequent flyer program, and you can redeem points for any seat on any flight. The exact value you’ll get per point varies depending on the cost of a ticket, though.
The catch is that generally TrueBlue points redemptions for Mint are lower value than redemptions for economy. For example, while each TrueBlue point gets you about 1.5 cents toward the cost of an economy ticket, it only typically gets you around 1.3 cents toward the cost a Mint ticket.
So if you want to maximize your rewards, you’re best off using your TrueBlue points for economy travel.
You can redeem Qatar Airways Avios to book JetBlue Mint
There’s only one partner frequent flyer program that allows you to redeem for JetBlue Mint, and that’s Qatar Airways Privilege Club. So you can use Avios from the program, or keep in mind that you can transfer Avios between all programs that use that currency.
JetBlue awards through Qatar Airways Privilege Club have capacity controls, and there needs to be “I” class availability in order to redeem Qatar Airways Avios. So, how expensive are awards?
A Mint award within the United States will generally cost you 74,000 Avios one-way, while a Mint award between the United States and Europe will generally cost you 78,000 Avios one-way.
You can’t redeem points to upgrade to JetBlue Mint
Just to be 100% clear, there are no ways to use JetBlue TrueBlue points to upgrade to Mint. If you booked a JetBlue award ticket in economy, you can always rebook your ticket in Mint by paying the points difference, but that’s not an upgrade, but rather just repricing your ticket for the product you want.
Bottom line
JetBlue is the most restrictive US airline when it comes to giving people opportunities to upgrade to its business class (known as Mint). TrueBlue Mosaic members can earn up to six Mint upgrade vouchers per year. The only other way to upgrade to Mint is at the gate, when upgrades are sold at a discount on a space available basis.
The only opportunities to “upgrade” to Mint in advance are to just rebook your ticket and pay the fare difference for Mint. Alternatively, you can redeem JetBlue TrueBlue points or Qatar Airways Avios for tickets in Mint.
If you’ve upgraded to JetBlue Mint, what was your experience like?
I upgraded from SFO - JFK for $250 last November! Mint had two seats left and I upgraded at the gate. I was there before the gate agent and was first in line.
I actually prefer the old system, where you gave a mint certificate within the 48 hours if mint seats were available, and it only cost one certificate. With JetBlue scaling back routes and now this failed new way of utilizing the "mint certificates" I believe that many who travel think this "Dynamic pricing" of 2 to 4 certificates for one leg of the journey is out of line. I will be exhausting my points and...
I actually prefer the old system, where you gave a mint certificate within the 48 hours if mint seats were available, and it only cost one certificate. With JetBlue scaling back routes and now this failed new way of utilizing the "mint certificates" I believe that many who travel think this "Dynamic pricing" of 2 to 4 certificates for one leg of the journey is out of line. I will be exhausting my points and will be looking for a new travel partner. It's unfortunate because they really used to be a standout airline, however unfortunately service has become secondary within their business model. I am not some huge traveler or spend exuberant amount of money on travel, however I have utilized JetBlue for business for the past several years and spend approximately $25,000 annually on airfare. But as in any service sector, if you do not service the customers someone else will.
Good Luck to you All on searching out better service and Safe Travels.
As a decade+ Mosaic status flier w/ JB, I agree that their model grows increasingly frustrating for their loyal customers. My friends & colleagues who fly other airlines are regularly upgraded to first class. JB does not do this for even its most tenured and loyal Mosaic folks, and as mentioned previously, absolutely will leave Mint seats empty on the handful of domestic route where it is offered. The certificates you get starting at Mosaic...
As a decade+ Mosaic status flier w/ JB, I agree that their model grows increasingly frustrating for their loyal customers. My friends & colleagues who fly other airlines are regularly upgraded to first class. JB does not do this for even its most tenured and loyal Mosaic folks, and as mentioned previously, absolutely will leave Mint seats empty on the handful of domestic route where it is offered. The certificates you get starting at Mosaic Tier 3, and again at Tier 4, have become increasingly worthless, as it’s nearly impossible to find a 1-way leg where Mint is offered for less than 2 certificates, meaning the 4 certificates issued at this level will typically get you a Mint seat for only one round-trip flight. I understand this absolutely falls into the category of “first world problems“, but JB continues to frustrate its most loyal flyers. Instead of saying wonderful things about the airline, my feedback and NPS rating, when people ask me, usually looks like what you see me sharing here. Like many businesses, it seems like JB is myopic in its frequent act of tripping over quarters to pick up pennies.
What % of Mint seats are filled?
And not offering upgrades until departure means most every last-minute upgraded pax results in an empty coach seat that could have been sold a few days before, had they started the upgrade process earlier.
They don’t upgrade elites from economy. I’ve seen plenty of empty Mint seats (and those filled by nonrevs)
How many avios Lax-Lhr (connecting JFK) one way?
Any data points if upgrading at the gate will trigger the USBank Altitude Reserve real time rewards?
And why does this matter to the 95% of America that don't live within shouting distance of JFK or BOS?
Because those 95% don't drive the airlines most lucrative routes in the usa. Money talks. Unless you think the airlines are in business to be kind and gentle to the citizens of the US.
Because it also applies in the Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Vegas and Florida markets, which combined with NYC and BOS, feature Mint and form a huge plurality of transatlantic connection service.
Recent Mint upgrades I have taken have been:
JFK -> SEA for $150 in Jan 2023 -- exceptional value
JFK -> LHR for $749 in Dec 2023 -- I had used TrueBlue points to book the ticket, so this represented good value to me
To confirm what you said, I flew SFO-BOS a month or so ago in JetBlue and they were offering Mint upgrades at the gate. I asked the price and they said $450. I declined. I like Mint, but the extra value over an even-more-space seat on a 4.5 hour flight just isn't enough to justify the cost.
The sfo to bos flight typically cost $799+ so you'll have to do the math there to see if you're ahead. That lowest price in that direction is usually the red eye flight. If you had booked an economy flight during the day route that $450 would be pretty nice. And considering 99% of flights from the big 3 airlines only offer domestic 1st as a premium option at a similar price point, jetblue wins.